Virgin Airlines founder and billionaire Sir Richard Branson, who describes himself as a Star Wars generation, realistic SciFi fan (Alien and Blade Runner his alltime favorites), believes that his newest venture, Virgin Galactic, is on the ground floor of a new age of commercial space tourism.

Check out the interview link below where Branson talks about the possibility of colonising other planets, which has also been discussed by Cambridge University physicist Stephen Hawking, who has stated his ambition is to take a Virgin Galactic flight, despite his motor neuron disease. Branson compared the new space race to the early days of the internet. Branson joins Internet pioneers Esther Dyson and Microsoft founder Paul Allen in his belief that a second great space race is under way, with different commercial entities looking at launching suborbital and orbital flights, with plans on the drawing board for space hotels and trips to Mars.